Search This Site
Our Most Popular Essays
New to Minimalism? Start Here
How to Start a Successful Blog Today
30-Day Minimalism Game
11 Ways to Write Better
Tour Joshua’s Minimalist Apartment
Success Does Not Exist
The Solution Is the Problem
Letting Go Is Not Something You Do
Compassion for Hypocrites
What Is Clutter?
Subtraction
Minimalism: An Elevator Pitch
18-Minute Minimalist Exercises
30 Life Lessons From 30 Years
Fight Club’s Tyler Durden Is a Minimalist
Letting Go of Sentimental Items
The UnAmerican Dream
Getting Rid of the Internet at Home
Photo-Scanning Party
Not Busy, Focused
Debt-Free
All Essays on Our Site
- ‘Follow Your Passion’ Is Crappy Advice
- 1 Decluttering Video, 2 Spinoff Shows, 3 Writing Tips from The Minimalists
- 1-in-10-out Rule
- 10 Items You Should Put in Self-Storage
- 10/10 Material Possessions Theory
- 100 Days with No Goals
- 11 Signs You Might Be Broke
- 11 Ways to Write Better
- 12 Years of Minimalism
- 13 Overrated Virtues
- 15 Minimalist Home Goods
- 18-Minute Minimalist Exercises
- 2 Minimalist Tips to Save Money on Every Purchase
- 20 Decluttering Ideas
- 20 Questions for a Minimalist
- 3 Christmas Gifts from The Minimalists
- 3 Infographics from The Minimalists
- 3 P.M. Happiness Updates
- 3 Reasons to Seek Other POVs
- 3 Ways to Extend the Battery Life on Your Gadgets
- 3 Ways to Write Better
- 30 Conversations
- 30 Decluttering Rules
- 30 Is Not the New 20
- 30 Life Lessons from 30 Years
- 30 More Life Lessons From 30 Years
- 31 Personal (Banal) Things About Me
- 4 Simple Anxiety Cures
- 40 Life Lessons from 40 Years
- 40 Reasons to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday
- 5 Decluttering Tips
- 5 Questions to Ask Before Buying
- 5 Things I Do Not Need as a Minimalist
- 5 Ways to Create Solitude with Minimalism
- 6 Daily Choices to Deal with Anxiety
- 6-Minute On-the-Road Minimalist Workouts
- 7 Ways to Make Conversations Meaningful Using Minimalism
- 90/90 Minimalism Rule
- 93 Shirts, 38 Pants, 19 Shoes, 17 Jackets, 41 Socks, 21 Underwears
- A Bunch of Things I Did to Get out of Debt
- A Day in the Life of a Minimalist
- A Decade of Less: Celebrating 10 Years of The Minimalists
- A Few Book Recommendations from The Minimalists
- A Meaningful Birthday Gift
- A Meaningful Life
- A Minimalist Approach to Technology
- A Minimalist, a Japanese Cowboy, and an Arrogant American Walk into a Museum
- A Minimalist’s Thoughts on Diet
- A Minimalist’s Thoughts on Meaningful Relationships
- A Minimalist’s Thoughts On Money
- A Month of Minimalism
- A Quiet Place
- A Rolex Won’t Give You More Time
- A Simpler Family Life: Starting Life Anew with Our Six Kids
- A Special Kind of Freedom
- A Well-Edited Life
- A Year End Review: How Everything Can Change in a Year
- Accomplishments Without Goals
- Adding Value
- Addressing Pressure from Family Members
- Adequate
- Advertisements Suck
- After the Stuff
- After the Tragedy
- Alone Time
- An Apple Watch Won’t Give You More Time
- An Extremely Fun Thing We’ll Probably Never Get to Do Again
- An Irresponsible Christmas
- Analog Video: Screenless Saturdays
- And for My Next Magic Trick…
- Ask for Better Christmas Presents
- Ask Not What You Can Get, Ask How You Can Give
- Asking Friends and Family to Embrace Change
- Authentic People
- Back to Basics
- Bad Writing
- Balance of Attraction: Simple Thoughts on Dating for Men and Women
- Be on the Mountain
- Because I Deserve It!
- Becoming Who We Need to Be
- Benefits of Rest in a Busy World
- Better Questions
- Biggest Failures
- Building Your Trust Muscle
- Buy a Brick for Christmas
- Buy This Thing
- Can I Get Him to Stop Watching TV?
- Can I Get Something?
- Can We Have an Honest Conversation About Advertisements?
- Can You Imagine a Minimalist President?
- Changes in the Rearview
- Changing Your Life Won’t Change Your Life
- Channel Surfing
- Check Email Like a Minimalist
- Clear Your Damn Plate
- Clutter Counseling
- Cola and Politics
- Collecting Is Dangerous
- Comments Killed the Internet Star
- Compassion for Hypocrites
- Confined by Attachment
- Constructing an Extraordinary Life
- Consumerism
- Consumerism Is the Original Virtue Signaling
- Consumption Is Not the Problem
- Costs and Benefits of Awareness
- Counting Material Possessions
- Course Correction
- Create More, Consume Less
- Create Your Masterpiece: A 16-Step Guide
- Creating Daily Writing Habits
- Creations Over Consumer Goods
- Crisis of Meaning
- Dan Harris on the Utility of Worry
- Dark Friday
- Dealing with Digital Clutter
- Dear Critics
- Debt-Free
- Declutter Old Holiday Traditions and Start New Ones
- Decluttering Doesn’t Work
- Decluttering Mental Clutter
- Decluttering When Your Family Is Doing the Opposite
- Delete 1,000 Photos in 11 Days
- Deleting Music
- Developing Ears for Travel
- Digital Clutter Is Different from Physical Clutter
- Diminishing Value
- Dislike, Discomfort
- Do I Want to Keep This?
- Do You Want to Spend Your Life Chasing Stuff?
- Does Minimalism Make You Complacent?
- Does This Add Value to My Life?
- Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford
- Don’t Collect All Three!
- Don’t Flinch
- Don’t Let Clutter Enter Your Home
- Don’t Upgrade
- Don’t Say Yes
- Downsize Your Life, Live Your Dream
- Easiest Way to Organize Your Stuff
- Eating Healthy on a Budget
- Elementary and Grad School
- Eliminate Impulse Purchases with This Rule
- Eliminate the Clutter Forever!
- Email for Minimalists
- Emotional Clutter
- Emotional Clutter (Audiobook)
- Ending the Tyranny of Cool
- Enoughism, Essentialism, and Other Names for Minimalism
- Essentials, Nonessentials, and Junk
- Establishing Deeper Connections
- Eudaemonia: A Better Kind of Happy
- Even Your Best Possessions Are Garbage (Stop Clinging to This Junk!)
- Every Little Thing
- Every Other Never
- Everyday Minimalists
- Everything Else
- Everything I Own: My 288 Things
- Everything Is 100% off If You Don’t Buy It
- Everything That Remains: 10th Anniversary
- Everything You Need
- Excess Is the Birthplace of Clutter
- Excessories
- Existential Clutter
- Fake Outrage: Dealing with Criticism
- Favorite Clothes of a Minimalist
- Feel Free to Unsubscribe, Unfollow
- Fight Club’s Tyler Durden Is a Minimalist
- Fighting the Voice in Your Head
- Financial Freedom: 5 Difficult Steps to Get Out of Debt, Create a Simple Budget, Plan for the Future, and Regain Control of Your Finances
- Financial Freedom: The Free Budgeting Ebook
- Finding Your Writing Voice
- First Thing in the Morning: Why I Wake at 3:30 A.M.
- Five Steps Toward a More Meaningful Holiday Season
- Food Is Not Entertainment
- Fool Price
- For Your Consideration
- Forever Does Not Exist
- Forsake the Rest
- Getting Laid Off from My Six-Figure Job Was Exactly What I Needed
- Getting Rid of Just-in-Case Items: 20 Dollars, 20 Minutes
- Gift a Smile
- Gift Experiences, Not Stuff
- Gift Love: Save $776 on Christmas Shopping This Year
- Giving Is Living
- Goodbye Fake Friends
- Gospel of Minimalism
- Greet Them with a Hug
- Growth Through Minimalism
- Habitual Complaining
- Haunted by Desire
- Have to, Get To
- Health Is a Vehicle, Not a Destination
- Helping Hands: Mark’s Story of Contribution
- Here, Have an Organ
- Hey Look at Me I’m Relevant Dammit!
- Holiday Shopping for Aspiring Minimalists
- Home Is Where the Red Phone Is
- How Do You Let Go?
- How Much Is Enough?
- How The Minimalists Are Using Social Media
- How to Be Anxious
- How to Change Your Purchasing Decisions
- How to Deal with Paper Clutter
- How to Go Clothes Shopping
- How to Improve Your Sentences when Writing
- How to Improve Your Writing: 3 Tips
- How to Let Go of Possessions
- How to Love: A New Podcast About Relationships, Sex, and Parenting
- How to Make a Damn Decision
- How to Make Money Blogging
- How to Reach the End of the Internet
- How to Sleep Sitting Up
- How to Start a Successful Blog in 2024
- How to Start a Successful Podcast
- How to Understand Your Values
- How We Woke Up
- I Could Never Do That!
- I Don’t Love You Anymore
- I Don’t Need Much
- I Shouldn’t Have to Deal with This
- I Was Not a Minimalist, Until I Was
- I Will Always Be Okay
- Ideas for a Debt-Free Christmas
- If, Then
- Imagine Everything
- Imperfect Is the New Perfect
- In Albuquerque with Matt D’Avella
- In Too Deep
- Inbox Minimalism
- Influencers Peddling Propaganda
- Inside My Minimalist Junk Drawer
- Inside the Prison Walls of Consumerism
- Intentional Relationships
- Is Location Independence Bullshit?
- Is Minimalism Just for Single, Rich, White Guys?
- Is This What You’ve Been Waiting for Your Entire Life?
- It’s 8:33 A.M.: Do You Know Where Your Productivity Is?
- It’s Complicated
- It’s Easy to Get What You Want
- Jealousy Is a Wasted Emotion
- Jeffersonian Minimalism: Thomas Jefferson’s 10 Rules for a Good Life
- JFM’s Favorite Albums of 2021
- JFM’s Favorite Albums of 2022
- JFM’s Favorite Albums of 2023
- Just Do Something
- Just for When
- Killing Home Internet Is the Most Productive Thing I’ve Ever Done
- Killing Time
- Know Thy Neighbors
- Labels Are Necessary
- Last Minute Gift Ideas
- Learning How to Live Confidently Without Material Possessions
- Learning to Let Go
- Leaving Los Angeles
- Less Clothes, More Routines
- Less Is Now (Official Trailer)
- Less Stuff, More Sex
- Less, Less, Less, Less, Less, Less…
- Lessons from the Fall
- Let Go of the Need to Control
- Let Go the Best You Can
- Let Go Together
- Let It Go
- Let’s Talk About Being Busy
- Let’s Talk About Black Friday
- Let’s Talk About Debt
- Let’s Talk About Less
- Let’s Talk About the Coronavirus
- Letting Go Is a Sign of Maturity
- Letting Go Is Not Something You Do
- Letting Go of Control
- Letting Go of Physical Gifts
- Letting Go of Sentimental Items
- Letting Go of Shitty Relationships
- Letting Go of Your DVD Collection
- Letting Go: Dealing with the Death of a Loved One
- Life After the Crash
- Life Is an Acquired Taste
- Life Is Like Riding a Bicycle
- Life Maintenance
- Life’s Most Dangerous Question: What Do You Do?
- Live Like Stan
- Logos
- Loose Grip
- Love Is More
- Love People, Use Things
- Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works
- Luxury Goods: How People Beg for Attention
- Making Minimalism
- Making Money as a Writer Is a Curious Thing
- Messy Family Clutter Is Stressing Me Out
- Minimal Maxims
- Minimalism 2.0
- Minimalism for Families with Children
- Minimalism for Poor People
- Minimalism Is Healthy: How I Lost 70 Pounds
- Minimalism Is Not
- Minimalism Is Not a Radical Lifestyle
- Minimalism Is Not the Path
- Minimalism Kills Fear
- Minimalism Life Podcast
- Minimalism Renewed
- Minimalism Saved My Life
- Minimalism Scares the Crap Out of Me
- Minimalism: An Elevator Pitch
- Minimalism’s No Junk Rule
- Minimalist Desktop
- Minimalist Family: Start With Yourself
- Minimalist Finances and Budgeting
- Minimalist Gift-Giving
- Minimalist Home Tour (Photos): Ryan Nicodemus
- Minimalist Home Tour (Video): Joshua Fields Millburn
- Minimalist Home Tour: JFM
- Minimalist Interview: Colin Wright
- Minimalist Interview: Karol Gajda
- Minimalist Living Room Tour
- Minimalist New Year’s Resolution
- Minimalist Resolution Update 1: January 2011
- Minimalist Rulebook
- Minimalist Rulebook (Audiobook)
- Minimalist Screens: Free Wallpapers for Your Smartphone and Desktop
- Minimalist Toolkit
- Minimize Emotionally Charged Impulse Purchases at Retail Stores
- Minimizing Musical Instruments and Letting Go of Social Media
- Missoula and the Third Minimalist
- Mistakes vs. Bad Decisions
- Money Does Not Buy Better Habits
- Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, Neither Does Poverty
- Monthly Zoom Calls with The Minimalists
- More Complete
- More Is Less?
- More Stuff Won’t Make You More Complete
- More Wins Than Losses
- Most Emergencies Aren’t
- Motion Creates Emotion: 3 Simple Ways To Break Your Pattern
- Moving Beyond Goals
- My Exile Lifestyle: Interview with Colin Wright
- My Minimalist Workspace
- My Whole Process
- Need, Want, Like
- Netflix’s MINIMALISM Documentary Is Now on YouTube
- Never Happier
- Never Leave the Scene of a Good Idea Without Taking Action
- New Film Series
- Nightmares of a Perfectionist
- No More Texts
- No Piles Rule
- No Value in an Empty Room
- Nobody Has the Power to Upset You
- Nostalgia Is Dangerous
- Not a Natural
- Not Busy, Focused
- Not Utopia
- Nothing: Smartphone App
- Obsolete Things
- Of Course It’s Unreasonable, Dummy!
- Off-the-Rack Self-Righteousness
- Offbeat
- On Becoming a Better Writer
- On Living in Caves and Fighting Distractions
- One Thing Each Day
- One Thing to Declutter to Start
- Online Congruency
- Only Rats Win the Rat Race
- Organizing Is Well-Planned Hoarding
- Our 5 Favorite Minimalist Rules
- Our Obsession with Decluttering Is Causing Shame?
- Out-in-the-Open Decluttering Rule
- Overcoming Self-Doubt
- Packing Party: Unpack a Simpler Life
- Pendulums and Extremes
- People Use Material Things as Pacifiers to Distract Themselves
- Permission to Let Go
- Photo Tour: The Minimalists Open a Coffeehouse
- Photo-Scanning Party
- Play the 30-Day Minimalism Game
- Please Masturbate in Your Own Room
- Post-Post-Minimalism: An Interview
- Preaching to the Congregation
- Prepared to Walk Away
- Prime Optimist
- PSA from The Minimalists
- Pushing Through Frustration: Why I’m Getting Rid of My Phone
- Quarantine Qasts
- Questioning Stuff
- Questions to Ask Before Purchasing
- Quitting Your Job Is Easy
- Ready. Set. Let Go!
- Real Priorities
- Reasons I Don’t Own a TV
- Reasons to Avoid Photographs During Vacation
- Reclaim Your Time
- Redefining Better
- Reevaluate Everything with Minimalism
- Repaying Intellectual Debt
- Reprogramming the Twitch
- Rescheduled: Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Vancouver
- Resolve to Write More This Year: 5 Important Articles About Writing
- Resolving to Learn from Failure
- Retirement Planning: How to Plan for a Successful Retirement
- Right Here, Right Now
- Ryan Nicodemus Owns Almost Nothing (Video)
- Scared to Death of Death: The Important Things We Postpone
- Screenless Saturdays
- Scrolling Is the New Smoking
- Seagulls
- Searching for False Truth
- Security Is a Misnomer
- See The Minimalists in Tennessee
- Self-Restraint as a Virtue
- Shifting from a Culture of Excess to a Culture of Access
- Shopping or Finding Meaning
- Side Project: Minimalism Life
- Simple Triggers
- Simplify Everything
- Singing Stones: Finding Life’s Beauty and Meaning
- Sleep, Sex, and Reruns
- Small Losses
- Some Thoughts About the Holiday Shopping Season
- Someday
- Spring Minimizing
- Start with the Easy Stuff
- Starting Over After Losing Everything
- Stimulate the Economy Like a Minimalist
- Stoicism and Minimalism
- Stop Trying
- Store-Brand Insecurity
- Struggling with Choices
- Stupid Christmas Gifts
- Subtraction
- Success Does Not Exist
- Successfool
- Sunday Symposium
- Take It Simple
- Take It to the River
- Taking Back the Morning
- Tangled Sounds
- Techochamber
- Tell a Better Story: 3 Tricks that Aren’t Tricks at All
- Terrible Words
- Thanks. Giving.
- The “Didn’t Know” Rule
- The 30/30 Rule
- The 4 Conflict Reactions: Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn
- The Actual Cost of Owning a Thing
- The Advice Epidemic
- The Beauty of Starting a Micro-Business
- The Benefits of Minimalism
- The Best Present Is Presence
- The Best Writing Tips on Instagram
- The Blackest of Fridays
- The Boundaries of Discontent
- The Burden of Attachment
- The Commodification of Love
- The Compelling Beauty of Free
- The Consumption Continuum
- The Cult of Self-Care
- The Cycle of Letting Go
- The Definition of Success
- The Details
- The Discomfort Zone
- The End of the World Is Right Past the Horizon
- The Fall into Consumerism
- The Falling Thing
- The Four Paths
- The Great Unsubscribe
- The High Price of Pursuing My Dream
- The Idea Guy
- The Impact Equation
- The Invention of Our Discontent
- The Irony of Minimalism
- The Joy and the Car
- The Man Who Dies with the Most Stuff
- The Mess We Made in Rochester
- The Million Dollar Joke
- The Minimalism Paradox
- The Minimalists Are Quitting Social Media for the Rest of 2024
- The Minimalists Join Dave Ramsey
- The Minimalists Unscripted
- The Minimalists vs. Marie Kondo
- The Minimalists’ Favorite Coffee
- The Minimalists’ Favorite Podcasts
- The Minimalists’ Gift Getting Rule
- The Most Recent Thing Decluttered
- The New American Dream
- The Number One Lesson of Minimalism
- The Official Minimalist T-Shirt
- The Perfect Amount of Clothes
- The Power of a Hug
- The Pressure We Put on Ourselves
- The Problem with Common Sense
- The Problem with Corporations
- The Purpose of a Thing Is to Be Used or Enjoyed
- The quickest way to give yourself a pay raise
- The Rats in the Tunnel
- The Reason Shopping Makes You Miserable
- The Right Kind of Fame
- The Rule of Two
- The Rules We Live By
- The Shame Caused by Decluttering
- The Shocking Marketing Tactics That Influence Bad Purchases
- The Solution Is the Problem
- The Sound of Irrelevance
- The Sound of Life
- The Spatula: Possessions Ultimately Dispossess
- The Success Template
- The Surface Rules: Two Ways to Avoid Household Clutter
- The Taste of Health
- The Troubling Nature of Pop Culture
- The Tweet That Changed My Life
- The UnAmerican Dream
- The Uncomfortable Path Is the Most Fulfilling Path
- The Worst Christmas Ever
- The Worst Thing That Could Happen
- There Will Be Bruises
- They’re All Just a Bunch of Hippies!
- This Is What Emotional Health Looks Like
- This Minimalist Wants a Birthday Gift!
- This Much Debt Is Gross!
- This Page Left Intentionally Blank
- This Probably Isn’t for You
- This Year Beat the Crap Out of Me and It Was Awesome
- Threading the Needle
- Too Many Screens
- Too Much Branding These Days
- Too Weak to Say Sorry
- Tour My Minimalist Apartment
- Tour The Minimalists’ Montana Cabin: A Photo Essay
- Turn Down the Volume
- Turning a Passion into a Profession
- Unbusy
- Under the Influence of Impulse
- Understanding Others
- Unpacking Minimalism: The Wallet
- Unsolicited Discharge
- Unteachers
- Updated Beliefs
- Valuable Things
- Vying for Attention
- Waking Up: Sam Harris Discusses the Benefits of Mindfulness
- Walk a Mile in My Blisters
- Wallpaper: You Can’t Change the People Around You, but You Can Change the People Around You
- We Can’t Fix the Problem with the Problem
- We Found a Minimalist Millionaire
- We Have No Problems
- We Love to Say Hi and Buy Less
- We Walked out of the Emmys!
- What a Game!
- What Happens when a Minimalist Moves in with His Girlfriend?
- What If You Accidentally Spilled Bleach on Half Your Wardrobe?
- What Is Clutter?
- What Is My Outcome?
- What Is Normal Clutter?
- What Is Your Mission?
- What It Feels Like to No Longer Worry About Money
- What the Hell Are You Talking About?
- What Things Can You Get Rid Of?
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Minimalism
- What Would Happen If You Just Let Go?
- When Does Minimizing Become Unethical?
- When Everything Is Your Favorite Thing
- When Goals Are Important and When They Are Not
- When Would Today Be a Good Day to Start?
- Who Am I Buying This For?
- Who to Emulate?
- Who’s Preventing You from Being Totally Free?
- Why Clearing the Clutter Can Feel Impossible
- Why Did We Stop Reading?
- Why Didn’t Minimizing Make Me Feel Good?
- Why I Walked Away from My Six-Figure Career
- Why Is My Phone About to Die?
- Why?
- Woodshedding and the Pseudo-Thoreau Thing: Moving to Montana
- Worthy
- Would You Be Willing To?
- Would You Buy It Again?
- WWJD: What Would Joshua Do?
- You Are Here
- You Are Not Impressing Me
- You Are Not Your Khakis
- You Are What You Desire
- You Aren’t Entitled to Anything
- You Can’t Take Everyone with You
- You Cannot Fix Anything
- You Don’t Have To Explain Yourself
- You Should See My Car
- Your coffin isn’t hitched to a U-Haul.
- Your Credit Score Does Not Matter
- Your Five Most Precious Resources
- Your Own Advice Is the Hardest Pill to Swallow
- Your Past Does Not Equal Your Future
Guest Essays on Other Sites
- 10 Lessons From Publishing the #1 Bestselling Short Story (Think Traffic)
- 100 Days with No Goals (Zen Habits)
- A Day in the Life of a Minimalist (Zen Habits)
- Don't Pursue Your Passion (AskMen)
- Everybody Worships Something (Becoming Minimalist)
- Grow Yourself, Not Your Stuff (Positively Positive)
- Homework: Start Your Masterpiece (In Over Your Head)
- How to Declutter a Bedroom (Woman & Home)
- I Am Not The Center Of The Universe (Exile Lifestyle)
- Launching a Book in Real Time (Asymmetrical)
- Let Freedom Ring with Minimalism (Be More With Less)
- Letting Go Of Sentimental Items (Rowdy Kittens)
- Real Life Minimalists (Miss Minimalist)
- Russian Version of Live a Meaningful Life (Synderesis)
- Screw You, I Quit! (Illuminated Mind)
- Simplicity in Action (Be More with Less)
- Stop Living the Lie; Start Living the Life (In Over Your Head)
- The Downside of Minimalism (Be More With Less)
- The Minimalist Secret to Productive Writing (Goins, Writer)
- The Short, 16-Step Guide to Getting Rid of Your Crap (In Over Your Head)